On my LONG JOURNEY home from work last night, my husband called me. He was frustrated that his mom wanted them to leave the house and go to her sister's. There was severe weather on the way, and they were having a difference of opinion. Beau thought that the storm was going to miss us entirely. His mom thought that we were all going to die. I can't tell you exactly what was said, except that the conversation included a lot of "OH, MY GOD! Are you even LOOKING at the weather map?!", heavy sighs, groans, grumbles, and "WHATEVER!"s.

As I was turning onto FM 1709, I finally was able to interject that I didn't see the point of me being a phone witness to their bickering and someone just needed to tell me where to go, please. Beau finally won the battle, and I went home.

I hadn't been home long before, for lack of a better word, shit got REAL.

The weather map started to look worse and worse, and all that red and pink that means "GET IN THE BATHTUB!" was coming right for us. Also, I think there is some sort of Ellis Family Severe Weather Phone Tree in effect, because my in-laws' phones were ringing constantly. When people started sending pics of funnel clouds, we thought maybe it was time to find a shelter elsewhere. Someplace with a foundation. It never occurred to me until a few weeks ago why it really was so dangerous to be in a mobile home during a storm that may include a tornado. They don't have foundations. They are so mobile, that you may find yourself upwardly mobile, right up into the sky. It's the landing that's a bitch, so I hear.

So, we all piled into the car and drove maybe 2 miles to Beau's aunt's house. It was maybe the scariest 5 minute drive I have ever made. They found this in their backyard...

It's dark, but that's about a baseball sized hail...ball...thing.

This tornado was less than 5 miles from our house...

Anyway, needless to say, we are all fine and the homestead is still intact. When we finally got to leave Beau's aunt's house after 10 o'clock, I hugged her and thanked her for the use of her foundation. We may need it again before this storm season is over.